Nicholls Cycling Rolls at Texas A&M March 1-2, 2014

March 6, 2014 at 3:41 pm

Nicholls Cycling Rolls @ Texas A&M

March 1-2, 2014–College Station, TX

Nicholls State Cycling, a campus Club Sport, kicked off the season
with two individual wins, two 2nd place finishes, and a 3rd place
finish. The Texas A&M, Texas Tunis Race took place March 1-2, 2014 in
College Station, TX. The race weekend featured a road race, an
Individual Time Trial, and a Criterium. Faculty advisor, Dr. Scott
Banville describes a criterium as NASCAR for bikes.

First time racer Aaron Richard said collegiate racing “an experience I
won’t ever forget; I had a blast competing over the weekend. I’ve
never been so proud to be a Colonel!!”

Dr. Scott Banville noted that Aaron’s reaction shows how important
Club Sports and the Rec Center’s other programs are to fostering
student engagement at Nicholls.

First year racer Catherine Gauthier had a strong weekend, racing to a
2nd place finish in a hotly contested Women’s Road Race that covered
23 miles include 3 miles of dirt roads. Later in the day, not content
with letting University of Texas, Dallas take all the glory, Catherine
raced to a 1st place finish in the Individual Time Trial event,
averaging over 22 MPH on a 5.5 mile course.

On Sunday, racing in the cold and rain, Gauthier raced to a second
place finish in the Criterium, again, finishing just behind Stella Yan
from the University of Texas, Dallas. Catherine’s teammate, Katelyn
Daigle finished 4th in the Criterium after doing a lot of work
blocking the wind for Catherine and chasing down attacks. In the Road
Race Katelyn finished a strong 5th and finished 4th in the Individual
Time Trial.

Catherine Gauthier, reflecting on her experience racing said, “It was
awesome. I loved it. Cycling is now my sport.” Catherine went on to
say, “next race at Texas State, I’m going to beat that woman from UT,
Dallas. That’s my goal.”

In the Men’s D Road Race, Jonathan Comeaux and his teammates Aaron
Richard, Jordan Stadler, and Alan Brambila worked together to place
Jonathan in position to finish in the top three. The men’s race
started at blistering pace, with speeds reaching over 24 MPH out of
the first corner. A three year veteran of collegiate racing, Jonathan
positioned himself near the front approaching the first gravel section
where speeds exceeded 34 MPH. Jonathan was able to respond to the
first attack and maneuvered himself into the break with 12-15 other
riders. Aaron Richard, following Jonathan’s lead joined and the two
worked together to counter attacks by the other teams. Allan Brambila
and Jordan Stadler, despite being boxed out of the break by the
tactics of the other teams, lead a heroic chase to rejoin the leaders.

Going into the last 8 miles of the 23 mile race, a small group of
riders broke off from the lead pack. Again, showing his experience,
Jonathan let Kaleb Shelton of LSU do all the work in chasing down the
escapees. Cresting the final climb with 300 meters to go and with the
two escapees in their clutches, Jonathan powered past the LSU rider
and took 3rd, just behind Cameron Lowery of Midwestern State
University (Texas) and Jakob Jøelstad of the University of Houston.

On Sunday, March 2, racing in windy and wet conditions, Jonathan and
his teammates worked to control the race. Early on Jordan Stadler
worked with Jonathan to box out Kaleb Shelton from LSU and Aaron
Richard worked hard to keep other teams from putting Jonathan in a bad
position. With one lap to go, Jonathan moved to the front of the pack
and taking the last corner in second position, he powered past
Jonathan Martin of Abilene Christian University in the last 200
meters.

Nicholls State Cycling, a campus Club Sport is sponsored by: The
Office of Campus Recreational Sports, Acadia Land Surveying, Bonnie
and Chris Siegrist, the Law offices of Allen & Norman, BG Bicycles of
Houma, LA, and Joey and Kim Comeaux.